Thursday, 29 May 2014

Well hello and welcome! Would you like to come and have tea with me today?- You might have a little further to go, as this month I'm in Bali. Yes I know, always on the go, always somewhere...but it's half term and so here I am!

In fact today's cup of tea is more like a coffee shop crawl. Would you like to follow on? On thing that makes this place so good is the variety of decent food and drink places...and so I'm making the most of them whilst I'm here. I'll probably come back a stone heavier..but I'll definitely enjoy things in the process.

First things first, how do you like the first coffee shop? I love the bright colours and lots of zen like thoughts written on the cushions. The food is really good too. Are you hungry? Or just a drink to start? I'm having a fresh juice. It'll count as one of my five a day...goodness knows I shall need it if I plan to eat lots of nice cakes and stuff later! Fruit juice all round I think!

Now, this coffee shop is really cute, I love all the shabby laid back vibe it's got going. Old distressed chairs and tables, art work on the walls and peace and quiet. A perfect hideaway from the hustle and bustle of Ubud's touristy streets.

There's even a little garden out back, complete with a little shrine. It's started to rain a little, perhaps we should wait a while until the sun comes back out again.

What are you going to have? This time I reckon I'll go for something more coffee like..but then again the menu looks much more more interesting. Banana smoothies, mango madness lassi, oh that looks interesting an iced honey latte- espresso, milk, ice and honey.mmm sooooo good!

This is the life isn't it? Wandering around the streets of Ubud, dodging the rain, nipping into shops and cute coffee shops like this. It's what holidays are all about.

I'm really liking the laid back feel of this place- very shabby chic retro.

Time to move on I feel though. A bit more shopping to be done I think!

A few souvenirs here and there: A dragon kite, some silver earrings, a few batik sarongs, the list goes on. Have you seen anything you like? All this shopping has made me thirsty and a wee bit peckish. Another coffee.. and cake this time?

Another cool coffee shop and some awesome cake to finish off. Time to head back to the hotel I think. Apart from the fact we seem to have done nothing except eat, drink and shop today, the day has gone by pretty quickly.

I'm glad you could have joined me. Next time I'll be beck home in KK. Will I see you there?Bye for now,Amanda x

Tuesday, 20 May 2014

I don't know about you but I love getting snail mail. Be it a quick postcard or a parcel- it's all very exciting. I often get packets from home, sent from my grandma, full of bits and pieces about things going on. There are usually lots of press cuttings from the local newspapers about things happening in then town, there may be an obituary or two, some interesting articles from the local magazines and more often than not some Lakeland scenes and photos. Then there's the little note that goes with it- a lot of 'neither nowt nor summat' as we say in our part of the woods- the daily trivia and minutiae that my grandma knows that I would find interesting.

But recently I have had a lot more mail, which has been great. Partly because of some fabulous blog swaps but also because of my involvement in the post crossing initiative. It's been great, never knowing what to expect when I open my little mail box. So for my Ten Things Tuesday, I thought i would share some of my mail:)

I love the fact that this postcard was received as part of the Art Swap, yet it was taken by Adrienne, who's blog I so happily follow and regularly take part in her memes.A beautiful poem and photo from www.mymemoryart.blogspot.com

6.

My final Art Swap postcard was from Kat herself. This one is called Layered Autumn.

7.

One of my grandma's note cards, full of paper cuttings!

8.

3 postcards I received today as part of my Postcrossing participation. These 3 are from Japan, China and Germany.

9.

A postcard sent by my mum, just to say hello. Carlisle is the nearest city to 'home, home'.

10.

And last but not least- Some fabulous items I received from Leonie at www.kiwiatheart-leonie.blogspot.co.nz as part of a Country swap. Lots of great stuff from New Zealand. I just love the Kiwi dishcloth- its so cute.

Friday, 16 May 2014

For this week's Six word Friday, the word Adrienne at Memory Art was setting us was- 'Top' - a little stumped I started flicking through my recent images and found these ones- At the top of Angkor Wat!

Tuesday, 13 May 2014

Happy Wesak Day to everyone out there. For those in the know or don't- this is Buddha's Birthday, Day of Enlightenment and celebration of life.

Here in Malaysia, and in many countries around the world, today is a public holiday- so another day off school! It's one of the bonuses of living in a very muticultural society like we do here in Borneo, is that we celebrate everything, what ever religion you are. We've had Christmas, Easter, Chinese New Year, Mohammed's Birthday and now we're at Wesak Day-I'm not complaining.

So for today, I thought I'd share with you 10 Buddha images from my recent trip. For those of you who were around this time last year- you may remember me posting some images on Wesak Day too- Here I may have started a tradition!

Thursday, 8 May 2014

Ever since my wonderful trip to Cambodia, food has become a bit of an obsession- Not because of all the great food I had there, but alas because I haven't been eating a lot of it. Without going into great details- I shall just say the words 'Tummy Bug' and leave it at that! It's also one of the reasons i haven't been blogging so much- this dreaded lurghi has killed all my energy, so i haven't felt like doing anything

However I did actually go to the Doctors-(which, as an ex nurse is quite a step- health professionals are some of the worst people I know, for following their own advice!)

Unfortunately, he banned me from eating quite a few foodstuffs for a short while-just to give things a little break! No wheat, No dairy, No oats, No pasta, No noodles- Reduce the fat and drink plenty!!

Not a lot left in the grand scheme of things- but I've managed a week on Plain chicken, veg and potatoes so a few more days can't hurt!

But...Does he not know I live on Starbucks lattes and Mocha muffins ?- and when I do cook- it's pasta and goodness me....Ice cream- How can he deny me that!!!!!

Anyway- I have stated to obsess over the foods I can't have-pouring over recipe books and salivating. It was during one of these masochistic readings that I found my ice cream recipe and realised I'd not got round to sharing on my blog. This is a very simple- No ice cream maker needed- recipe that i spotted over on the carnation website- and then keep adapting it- Even if i can't eat it- There's still some in my freezer for the day that I can.

The recipe is actually for a raspberry ripple ice cream- but as buying raspberries practically means taking out a second mortgage over here- I have used different flavourings and made a few different versions.

1tbsp vanilla
extract (This can be increased if you like it stronger flavoured!

You start by whisking up the cream

Then add in vanilla

Then add the condensed milk

Lightly whisk it up all again

Pour it into a freezer safe tub

(This one is caramel)

Freeze for at least 3 hours

Then serve and enjoy

(This one was crushed caramel biscuit wafers and nuts)If you would like to add different flavouring and crunchy bits, just blend it all together just before popping it in the freezer tub.Idea to tryMint choc chips and peppermint essence150g dark melted chocolateespresso coffeebananacaramelM & M chocolatesThe list can go on and on...